Democratic Party of Hawaii – Oahu County General ...



Democratic Party of Hawaii – Oahu County General Membership Minutes

Date: February 22, 2007

Time: 6:00 p.m.

Location: Democratic Party Headquarters

Attending: Annelle Amaral(Chair), Jalna Keala(Secretary), Andrei Soto(Region I), Tony Campagna (Deputy Chair- Communications), Bill Woods(State Central), Rich Halverson(Deputy Chair-Conference), Chuck Prentiss(Region IX), Dave Wallenstein, Glenn Ida(48-03), Charley Ice(Region V), Karl Minke.

|Agenda Item |Discussion |Motion/Action |

|I Call to Order |At 6:00 p.m. Chair Annelle Amaral called the meeting to order and asked for any additions to the agenda. | |

| | | |

| |The minutes of January 25, 2007 were approved as circulated. | |

|II Minutes | | |

| |There was no treasurer’s report. | |

|III Treasurer’s Report | | |

| |Region I – New chair Andrei Soto reported that he has not had a chance to contact District chairs yet to find out how/what| |

|IV Region Chairs |they are doing. | |

| |Region V – Chair Charley Ice reported that he had been contacting people and needs access to district names and addresses.| |

| |Halverson will help him get data from the City and County Neighborhood Board website. | |

| |Region IX – Chair Chuck Prentiss reported that they are still working on election issues. They are also getting together | |

| |a schedule for the region. | |

| | | |

| |Amy Monk’s report was deferred to the next general meeting. | |

|V Committee Reports | | |

|Reference Manual |Rich Halverson will be meeting with OCC vice chair Allicyn Tasaka and appreciates her assistance with planning the | |

| |conference. | |

|Conference | | |

| |Charley Ice is working with the State Legislative Committee to facilitate district organizing. The committee meets every | |

| |Saturday during the legislative session. (See Region reports above.) | |

|District Organizing | | |

| |Chair Amaral reported that with the help of Debi Hartmann and an intern she is tracking OCC bills, testifying and | |

| |providing input at the legislature. She said that for the most part OCC bills are moving pretty nicely. There are more | |

|VI Old Business |than five hundred short form bills. She is engaged at the legislature to develop a working relationship and create value | |

| |of the Democratic Party among legislators. She expressed the need to evaluate overall OCC effectiveness when the session| |

| |is over. | |

| | | |

| |Chair Amaral explained that there is a controversy on the re-appointment of Dwane Yoshina as State Elections Officer. | |

| |Yoshina’s contract expired in January and he wrote a letter to the commission asking that it be renewed. At the January | |

| |meeting of the Election Commission only two of the four Democratic appointees were present. All of the Republican | |

|VII New Business |appointees as well as the Republican Party Chair and the Attorney General were in attendance and an attempt was made to | |

|a. Office of Elections |remove Yoshina by the commissioners. Because proper agenda notification had not been made no action could be taken and | |

| |the matter was put off until the March 1, 2007 commission meeting. | |

| | | |

| |Amaral’s concern is that it opens the door of opportunity for a Republican appointment. There is a Republican record of | |

| |political manipulation of reapportionment and gerrymandering in mainland states, and the agency to handle reapportionment | |

| |in Hawaii is the State Office of Elections. There will be reapportionment in 2008 to prepare for the 2010 election. | |

| |Although Yoshina is extremely well experienced in running elections and reapportionment, this is an issue of a fair and | |

| |open process to appoint the most knowledgeable candidate. He has upset some politicians in the past, but Yoshina is | |

| |honest and has managed State elections with integrity. | |

| | | |

| |Also mentioned were the issues of voters disenfranchised by changing zip codes in Ohio, Florida and Texas and the many | |

| |details of elections that can be influenced by the Elections Office. The Bush-Gore election is a stark reminder of | |

| |election process vulnerability. | |

| | | |

| |Amaral contacted the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate who both appoint members to the commission to | |

| |please have their appointees attend the next meeting. She spoke briefly to the Speaker who said he is willing to support | |

| |a compromise candidate nominated by the Republicans. The Senate President was unaware of the problem until Amaral called.| |

| | | |

| | | |

| |By agreement, the committee supports Dwayne Yoshina’s reappointment as State Elections Officer and an open and independent| |

| |selection process. The committee also suggested that the media be contacted with regard to the issue, and suggested were:| |

| |Dan Boylan, Ian Lind, Gerry Burris and the Honolulu Weekly. Amaral said that the next Elections Commission meeting is | |

| |March 1 in the Kalanimoku Building and she intends to be there if any committee members care to join her. | |

| | | |

| |It was moved, seconded and approved to develop a Certificate of Appreciation for Dwayne Yoshina’s many years of service. | |

| |Campagna offered to help. | |

| | | |

| |There was a discussion as to the necessity for monthly meetings since there are both Executive and General Membership | |

| |meetings, which amount to two Party meetings monthly for some people. Amaral is concerned that perhaps with fewer OCC | |

| |meetings more time could be spent in outreach, organizing districts in preparation for elections next year. Special | |

| |meetings can always be called if emergencies arise and committee decisions are needed. | |

| | | |

| |There was a motion to have quarterly General membership meetings. The motion failed. | |

| | | |

| |There was a motion to have General membership meetings every other month following the legislative session. The motion | |

| |was adopted. | |

| | | |

| |The Chair announced that the next OCC meeting would be on March 22, 2007 at 6:00 p.m. at Democratic Headquarters. | |

| | |Motion by Soto, second by Woods. |

| |There being no further business the meeting was adjourned at 8:15 p.m. | |

|b. Future Meetings | | |

| |Submitted by: | |

| |Jalna Keala, Secretary | |

| | | |

| | | |

| | | |

| | | |

| | |Motion by Ice, second by Halverson.|

| | | |

| | |Motion by Prentiss, second by |

| | |Woods. |

| | | |

| | | |

|VIII Announcements | | |

| | | |

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